Men’s 2s: 6-1 win vs Dereham 3 (Home)
(Baker 2, Bunker, Harrington, Hosegood, Wood)
Men’s 3s: 10-1 win vs Bury St Edmunds 7 (Home)
(Booth 4, Benedikz 2, Allen, Brown, Evans, Saggers)
Ladies’ 1s: 3-5 loss vs Lowestoft Ladies 1 (Away)
(Stoneman 2, Farrell-Thomas)
Ladies’ 4s: 2-3 loss vs Huntingdon 2 (Away)
(Excell, Howe)
On another snowbound weekend for NHC, the only fixtures to go ahead were the Ladies’ 2s on Saturday and Ladies’ 1s on Sunday (thanks to the herculean efforts of a number of volunteers).
Ladies’ 2s: 2-1 win vs Cambridge Nomads 2 (Away)
(Cockerill 2)
Newmarket Ladies’ 2s stormed to victory despite the snow as they scored two late goals after being behind for almost the entirety of the match. Tracy Cockerill was the heroine of the piece as her brace lit up the aptly-named Coldhams Common and sent the Yellow & Blue Machine home with three points in the bag.
Ladies’ 3s: 5-0 win vs Ely City 3 (Home)
(Ely Conceded)
Ladies’ 1s: 0-2 loss vs Harleston Magpies 2 (Home)
The brave and hardy volunteers of Newmarket Hockey Club showed they’re just as good with broom sticks as hockey ones and managed to clear the snow-covered pitch in time to host Harleston Magpies at 12pm. The Ladies went down 0-2 in a good game with plenty of quality on show from all.
Men’s 1s: 6-1 win vs Pelicans 2 (Home)
(J. Atkinson, Donald, Hosegood, Leggett, Newnes, Wilson)
Newmarket Men’s 1s stormed to victory against a shell-shocked Pelicans team on Saturday. Town boasted a near-full strength side for the first time in a while and this was reflected in both performance and score – the home side took the lead early on and dominated with goals from Simon Donald and Will Wilson, while man of the match Chris Leggett was also on target for his first goal of the season after good work from Mark Pears.
On the subject of firsts, skipper Jordan Newnes stepped up to take a penalty stroke after an illegal block on the Pelicans goal line and dispatched it superbly to put Newmarket out of sight shortly after half time. Notable also was a superb strike on the half-volley from James Atkinson, the forward returning from a nine-week absence in Australia on his ‘gap yah’.
Full backs Darren Jenkins and Louis Hrebeniak were used more for attack rather than defence, but on the occasions when Pelicans did manage to sneak in behind they found goalkeeper Iain Robinson on superb form – the Town stopper pulled off several outstanding saves at big moments and was unfortunate not to walk away with a clean sheet as a short corner rebound eventually crept home. The reply was instantaneous however, and an excellent goal on the break from Will Hosegood saw him notch his first for the 1s.
As always, Mike Skelton showed his class in bossing the midfield and linking up well with the tricky Rob Green, who almost avoided getting sent off this time out. Lee Blades was excellent off the bench and this rounded off a superb team performance which one hopes the home support will savour for some time.
Men’s 2s: 7-5 win vs Lowestoft Railway 2 (Away)
(Bunker 3, Harrington 2, Podd, Trent)
Newmarket Men’s 2s achieved promotion to Division 4NE on a warm afternoon away at Lowestoft Railway, ensuring they bounce back up at the first time of asking. In this free-scoring affair, a hat-trick from Jonny Bunker, brace from leading scorer Simon Harrington and goals from Rory Podd and Ollie Trent saw Town popping the champaign bottles come the final whistle.
Men’s 3s: 1-3 loss vs Bury St Edmunds 6 (Away)
(Booth)
Pete Booth notched for Newmarket Men’s 3s as they went down 3-1 away to Bury St Edmunds 6s.
Ladies’ 1s: 1-0 win vs UEA 1 (Home)
(McDonnell)
A home clash with UEA for Newmarket Ladies’ 1s saw Claire McDonnell on target as the girls recorded a superb 1-0 victory.
Ladies’ 3s: 3-2 win vs St Ives 4 (Home)
(Howe, Podd, Swann)
Newmarket Ladies’ 3s recorded their best performance of the season as Milly Howe, Lucie Swann and skipper Mel Podd fired Town to victory at home to St Ives on Saturday morning.
Ladies’ 1s: 1-11 loss vs Dereham 1 (Home)
(G. Evans)
Nothing to be said really. We didn’t want to win anyway. Right?
Unfortunately all games were postponed this week due to the heavy snow causing frozen pitches around the leagues and at Newmarket Leisure Centre.
Please see below for a list of the postponed games. These will be rearranged on a new date later in the season.
Newmarket Men’s 1s vs. Norwich City 4s (Away) – 3:15pm
Newmarket Men’s 2s vs. Dereham 3s (Home) – 1:00pm
Newmarket Men’s 3s vs. Bury St Edmunds 7s (Home) – 3:00pm
Newmarket Ladies 1s vs. Norwich City 1s (Away) – 1:00pm
Newmarket Ladies 2s vs. Cambridge Nomads 2s (Away) – 12:30pm
Newmarket Ladies 3s vs. St Ives 4s (Home) – 11:00am
Newmarket Ladies 4s vs. Huntingdon 2s (Away) – 1:00pm
Men’s 1s: 3-1 win vs Sudbury 2 (Home)
(Wilson 2, Pears)
Newmarket battled to a creditable 3-1 victory at home to a well-drilled Sudbury side on Saturday. The first half began as a close and cagey affair, Town perhaps creating the better chances but were unable to convert. The visiting side soon grew into the game and drew a good save from Town keeper Iain Robinson, followed by a superb goal line clearance from makeshift centre back Darren Jenkins.
Newmarket continued to make things hard for themselves, but it was not long after this they took the lead – a typical driven Will Wilson short corner was deflected home by Mark Pears. However, Sudbury replied almost immediately with a speculative effort that was deflected high over the helpless Robinson and gave skipper Jordan Newnes on the goal line no chance.
The second half was a lot more open and it didn’t take Town long to regain the lead – Rob Green winning a penalty stroke for a foot on the goal line which was converted comfortably by Wilson. He then added his second and Town’s third from a short corner, handing the home side a comfortable two goal cushion to carry into the final whistle.
Men’s 2s: 2-1 win vs Norwich Dragons 5 (Away)
(Bunker, Landshoff)
Men’s 3s: 0-5 loss vs Sudbury 4 (Away)
(Newmarket Conceded)
Ladies’ 1s: 0-2 loss vs Watton 1 (Home)
Ladies’ 2s: 0-0 draw vs St Ives 3 (Home)
Ladies’ 3s: 1-7 loss vs Cambridge South 3 (Away)
(Swann)
Ladies’ 4s: P-P vs Royston 3 (Home)
(Match postponed due to frozen pitch)
Men’s 2s: 3-1 win vs Harleston Magpies 5 (Home)
(Wood 2, Beardon)
Men’s 3s: 2-6 loss vs Ipswich 4 (Home)
(Benedikz, Booth)
Ladies’ 1s: 0-3 loss vs Harleston Magpies 2 (Away)
Ladies’ 2s: 0-3 loss vs Royston Ladies 2 (Away)
Ladies’ 3s: 0-8 loss vs Cambridge South 3 (Home)
Ladies’ 4s: 1-8 result vs St Neots 4 (Home)
(Swann)
Men’s 1s: P-P vs Norwich Dragons 2 (Away)
(Match postponed due to frozen pitch)
Men’s 2s: 1-3 loss vs Watton 1 (Home)
(Harrington)
The hour came, Watton at home; your correspondent’s favourite game of the season, two teams toe-to-toe in the best of spirits; and the game was to turn on chances taken and those 50-50 balls. Watton won on both counts; their cheers and their faces at the final whistle conveying flattery to broken Newmarket hearts. Newmarket 1 – Watton 3.
But back to it lads, the very next day; the destination of the champions slot still in our hands.
Oh Monday’s blues come early; succumbing to old hands with old tricks…. stop, look, pass. And they did it well. Newmarket’s equalising goal at the end was justice to some, mercy to others, when mercy seasons justice perhaps (as some merchant once said). And either way, it changed little; the leaders brought down. Young’uns Atkinson in goal and Frost on the left get special mention for their battling parts. Newmarket 3 – Bury St Edmunds 3.
Ne’er mind fellas. Heads on; promotion’s call still loud and clear.
M2s: marchons!
Men’s 3s: 0-3 loss vs Harleston Magpies 6 (Home)
Newmarket Men’s 3s went down by three goals to nil in their home clash with Harleston this Saturday. Town started strongly and were unfortunate not to take the lead after youngster Ollie Brown was put clean through on goal, but suffered a nasty collision with the visiting keeper and the ball rolled just wide. Harleston went straight up the other end and forced a fine save from Town’s makeshift stopper Louis Hrebeniak, before eventually capitalising from the resulting long corner – the ball sneaking in under Hrebeniak’s foot.
Newmarket continued to look bright throughout the first half but were unable to find the final ball, Charlie Cummins and Henry Frost both going close but were unrewarded for their efforts. After some tactical changes at half time, the home side continued to press, but disaster struck from a short corner as the ball was squared to the far post and struck home despite good defending from skipper John Benedikz.
Town heads soon began to droop and Harleston grabbed a third from another short corner, eventually consigning the home side to a 0-3 defeat that could so easily have been different had the first half performance continued into the second.
Ladies’ 1s: P-P vs Lowestoft Ladies 1 (Away)
(Match postponed due to frozen pitch)
Ladies’ 2s: 0-9 loss vs Royston Ladies 2 (Away)
Ladies’ 3s: P-P vs Ely City 3 (Home)
(Match postponed due to frozen pitch)
Ladies’ 4s: 2-1 win vs St Ives 4 (Away)
(Vale)
Men’s 2s: 3-3 draw vs Bury St Edmunds 4 (Away)
(Wood 2, Harrington)
Men’s 1s: 2-5 loss vs I-ES 3 (Away)
(Bell, Blades)
Men’s 2s: 5-2 win vs Felixstowe 3 (Home)
(Harrington 2, Beardon, Bunker, Trent)
Whether defection or demotion (one man’s this, another man’s that) some younger legs to M1 flew, leaving room for a festival of nuanced skills. We called it a strengthened spine, albeit using experienced drift more than darting incision. The combined age of some of those goals (not to mention some of those pictures) is clue to why the ball seemed to do all the talking. Felixstowe battled; heads stayed up; but Newmarket were too strong at the back – Worrell and Baker, Magic Mike, Rory The Young’un, and Grey Beard – and were never really worried. Table-watchers from the other clubs will have to look to themselves if they want to trouble this lot.
Beardon 1; Trent 1; Bunker 1; Harrington 2: Newmarket 5 – Felixstowe 2. M2s march on.
Men’s 3s: 5-1 win vs Felixstowe 4 (Away)
(Benedikz 2, Atkinson, Brown, Walker)
M3 win 5v1 over Felixstowe 4s. A dire 1st half showing saw us 0v1 down, before Ollie Brown’s second goal of the season levelled things up early in the second half. After that it was more or less 1 way traffic with goals from Jordan Walker, Ben Atkinson and a brace for John Benedikz securing victory.
Ladies’ 1s: 1-1 draw vs St Neots 1 (Away)
(Farrell-Thomas)
Ladies’ 2s: 10-1 win vs Wisbech Town 3 (Away)
(Tydeman 4, Fox 3, Rolls, Russell-Price, Swann)
Ladies’ 3s: 0-3 loss vs Royston 3 (Home)
Ladies’ 4s: 0-18 loss vs St Neots 4 (Home)
Men’s 1s: 3-3 draw vs UEA 2 (Home)
(Donald, Pears, Skelton)
Newmarket Men’s 1s battled to a creditable 3-3 draw in a match that saw them go 2-0 down inside the first 10 minutes. The injury-depleted home side was buoyed by the addition of Andy Baker, Simon Donald, Will Hosegood and Lee Blades and their introduction told when Donald struck back for Town.
Although not enjoying the larger quantity of possession, Newmarket began to solidify at the back and began to play some superb one-touch break hockey – Mike Skelton levelling things up just before half time. Heading into the second period, it was the home side that rattled the backboard again as Mark Pears took advantage of the ginger connection and found the target. However, UEA had the final say as they sneaked an equaliser following a great save from Iain Robinson – a short corner struck the home keeper’s pads, resulting in pinball in the ‘D’ and the number 9 sliding home after creeping in behind left postman Louis Hrebeniak.
Men’s 2s: P-P vs Bury St Edmunds 4 (Away)
(Match postponed due to frozen pitch)
What scenery England brings as winter sun shines on. The crack of stick on ball makes hearts swell, this game from ancient origins…. etc. Sweeping moves from D to D. Beautiful passing, accurate and pacey. Backboard choir in good voice, not an average goal in site; and special mention to the defence, whose wall was up again. Oh how the beer tasted good.
But sadly that was in our dreams, as Bury called off because the pitch was unplayable, allowing one of their ladies teams to play their game on it instead. Yes really.
How do you spell ‘scaredy cats’?
See you next week.
Men’s 3s: 0-6 loss vs Sudbury 3 (Away)
Ladies’ 1s: 1-3 loss vs Bedford 2 (Home)
(Farrell-Thomas)
Ladies’ 2s: 0-0 draw vs Ely City 2 (Home)
Ladies’ 3s: 2-0 win vs Cambridge South 4 (Away)
(Excell, Plumb)
Ladies’ 4s: 1-0 win vs Bury St Edmunds 4 (Home)
(Kennedy)
Men’s 1s: 3-5 loss vs Norwich City 3 (Away)
(Bell, Green, Skelton)
Newmarket Men’s 1s were unfortunate in defeat to table-topping Norwich City 3s this Saturday. Town started strongly and played some great hockey in the first 20 minutes, taking the lead through Mike Skelton. However City replied almost instantly after a dubious short corner and soon after took the lead. This seemed to dishearten Newmarket a bit and the away side struggled to regain their foothold, going in at the break 3-1 down.
After half time Town put in a noble effort but City eventually put the game beyond doubt following a flurry of counter attacks and short corners. Harry Bell and Rob Green were on target for Newmarket to set up a grandstand finish, but City ran out 5-3 winners, deserving of the result but not perhaps the magnitude of the scoreline.
Men’s 2s: 10-1 win vs Ipswich Cranes 1 (Home)
(Blades 5, Bunker 2, Harrington 2, Trent)
When darkest Ipswich calls and top 4 opposition blocks the advance of Newmarket’s hidden treasures, what’ll make the difference? Men in tights! And Newmarket had one: a magic Mike. Strength in depth helped too (not to mention chances taken).
IES 2 – Newmarket 3. Lionhearts, oh Lionhearts. Well done boys.
But that was last week, and your correspondent was sad to miss it.
Not this week ‘though, as those Lionhearts more Ipswich men did face. Brave Cranes, decimated by defections, and no match for the men in yellow. No tights this week, but the backboard sang. Not a solo that, but rather a choir! Bunker The Pace 2; Harrington The Inimitable 2; Trent The Almost joined in…. 1; and Buddha The Blade got 5 (yes 5).
Newmarket 10 – Ipswich Cranes 1, and in the distance that ever so faint song: na-na-naaa-na, na-na-naaa-na, na-na-na-na-na-na. M2s march on.
Men’s 3s: 1-4 loss vs I-ES 6 (Home)
(Wilson)
Ladies’ 1s: 1-5 loss vs Colchester 1 (Away)
(G. Evans)
Newmarket Ladies’ 1s went down 5-1 in the away leg of their double header against Colchester this weekend. Although Grace Evans was on target for the Town, the home side proved too strong and their quality told come the final whistle.
Ladies’ 2s: 0-6 loss vs Sudbury 2 (Away)
Ladies’ 3s: 1-1 draw vs Bury St Edmunds 4 (Home)
(Hansgate)
Ladies’ 4s: 2-1 win vs Ely City 3 (Away)
(Asker, Howe)
Ladies’ 1s: 1-2 loss vs Colchester 1 (Home)
(Farrell-Thomas)
Ladies’ 3s: 1-4 loss vs Huntingdon 2 (Away)
(Swann)
Men’s 3s: 4-1 win vs Bury St Edmunds 6 (Home)
(Booth 3, Walker 1)
